Turkey's Petkim to expand ethylene, PTA capacities

LONDON (ICIS)--Petkim expects its petrochemicals production capacity to increase to 3.6m tonnes/year from 3.2m tonnes/year by the end of 2014, the Turkey-based company said on Friday.

Among improved outputs planned by Petkim were a 67,000 tonne/year increase in ethylene capacity, taking it to 587,000 tonnes/year by late 2014, and an expansion of the company's purified terephthalic acid (PTA) capacity to 105,000 tonnes/year from 70,000 tonnes/year, it said.

The PTA output expansion is expected to cost $25m, Petkim said.

Petkim added that the first stage of construction of a 50 megawatt wind power station would also be completed by November of this year.

The capacity expansions and wind power investment will all take place at the company's production complex in Aliaga, on western Turkey's Aegean coast.

Petkim is also constructing a petrochemical 'supersite' at the location, which should boost its petrochemical output to more than 10m/year tonnes by 2022.

Petkim, which has a 25% share in Turkey’s petrochemicals market, is owned by the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR).